


Flipping a Switch

by andveryginger



Series: Deja New [5]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Double Agents, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, RPverse, Secret Relationship, Spies & Secret Agents, non-canon backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andveryginger/pseuds/andveryginger
Summary: She wasn’t a professional courtesan; this wasn’t an op; and she wasn’t a target. What the kriff was he DOING?





	Flipping a Switch

**Author's Note:**

> Proceeding further into the story, I needed to wrap my brain around where Reanden was. This was the result.
> 
> Takes place immediately following "Falling Action."
> 
> Written by Ginger, with review and input from Keldae.

_**Kaas City, Dromund Kaas  
3641 BBY | 12 ATC** _

Reanden pulled the speeder to a halt powering down, and listening to the repulsors as the roar died to silence. He heard nothing but the patter of rain against the transparisteel cockpit and the sound of his own breath as he gave a long exhale. His gaze travelled the height of the building, looking to the warm glow emanating from the top-most windows -- Mairen’s apartment. 

What the kriff was he  _ doing _ here, he wondered, shaking his head. She wasn’t a professional courtesan; this wasn’t an op; and she wasn’t a target. And yet, provided all went as he expected, this would be the third time in just over two months that he found himself enjoying an intimate encounter with the same person. The same person that happens to be one of your assets…  _ and  _ the Director for Analysis and Reporting, he thought. They were just really becoming friends. If this all went horribly wrong somehow, it could all be ruined -- the friendship  _ and  _ the working relationship. Was it worth it?

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, a wave of panic following close behind -- the same reaction that sent him fleeing from a certain balcony three years prior. He  _ really _ wanted to say no -- to turn the speeder on and go home, curling up with a holonovel and a double of Whyren’s. His instincts, however, honed after two decades in the field, told him something completely different. He felt the draw to the lift, to her door, to her waiting arms; he could almost feel the silk of her skin under his hands, her warmth searing him. His instincts, it appeared, had concluded that this association -- this  _ affair _ was completely worth it.

_ Affair. _ He allowed the word to roll around in his mind. It was a word that had implied meaning beyond the simple definition. As a once-married man, he was more than aware of the negative connotations, the undertones of infidelity; as a widower and a single man, he understood the inference of a continued liaison -- definitely sexual, and possibly emotional. Other words followed in a quiet echo: Fling. Dalliance. Tryst. He dismissed all three. Neither “fling” nor “dalliance” suited, suggesting something casual and short-lived; “tryst” easily defined their two previous entanglements -- impulsive, scandalous, and driven entirely by need. Once he set foot inside her apartment, kissed her again, took her to bed -- it would be with intent. He wanted  _ her _ . “Affair” was the only word that fit.

But the draw wasn’t just physical. He was intrigued by her past, the strength of her personality -- of her  _ will _ .  Brave as they were, ultimately there were few Jedi who would have plunged so readily into the darkness that awaited on Dromund Kaas. Mairen had not only done so, but played their game well enough to rise within the ranks to become first a Sith Lord and then a Darth, serving as a ranking director within Imperial Intelligence. It was an accomplishment that, with the realization of what she was, had instantly earned his respect.

_ She also doesn’t have any qualms about standing up to  _ you, an inner voice reminded him. He could be an ass -- he knew it. But when it came to their interactions, she gave as good as she got. It was, he thought with a slow grin, one of the reasons they’d ended up in the holocall booth: He’d been trying to push her buttons, amidst hiding out from one of Cotuomo’s lackeys, and she pushed back. He needed that sort of balance, that sort of challenge in a partner and in a friend; he wanted it in a lover. Where was the fun, after all, in a bedmate who simply… rolled over?

The thought triggered more than a few images, stirring a response -- and before he had even set foot in the apartment. Force, this was going to be a problem, wasn’t it? It was also, he thought with a widening grin, going to be a hell of a lot of fun. 

Reaching for the hatch release, he climbed out of the speeder. He was smirking as he finally headed toward the lift.


End file.
